Clinton faces some tough 9-11 questions
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Clinton faces some tough 9-11 questions
| Wed, 03-17-2004 - 4:26pm |
Lisa Myers has an exclusive report on secret CIA footage of OBL, and another missed opportunity to involve the military in combatting terrrorism.

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Your response led me to believe you had specific information - that's why I asked for a link for backup.
Sam O'Neill said that the Bush Administration began laying plans for an invasion of Iraq including the use of American troops within days of President Bush's inauguration in January of 2001, not eight months later after the 9/11 attacks as had been previously reported. The Bush administration tried to make out to be a bitter disgruntled and a liar.
In Bob Woodward's extensive report in the Washington Times after 9/11 and later in his book Bush at War he talked about the discussion that went on directly after 9/11 about bombing Iraq.
Now from Drudge:
FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR: BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11 DESPITE KNOWING AL QAEDA WAS TO BLAME
Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET
Former White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke tells Lesley Stahl that on September 11, 2001 and the day after - when it was clear Al Qaeda had carried out the terrorist attacks - the Bush administration was considering bombing Iraq in retaliation. Clarke's exclusive interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday March 21 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Clarke was surprised that the attention of administration officials was turning toward Iraq when he expected the focus to be on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. "They were talking about Iraq on 9/11. They were talking about it on 9/12," says Clarke.
The top counter-terrorism advisor, Clarke was briefing the highest government officials, including President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in the aftermath of 9/11. "Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq....We all said, 'but no, no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan," recounts Clarke, "and Rumsfeld said, 'There aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq.' I said, 'Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with ,'" he tells Stahl.
Clarke goes on to explain what he believes was the reason for the focus on Iraq. "I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there, saying, 'We've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection,'" says Clarke.
Clarke, who advised four presidents, reveals more about the current administration's reaction to terrorism in his new book, "Against All Enemies."
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash60.htm
A quote from an Associated Press article dated March 19. 2004:
"Ex-adviser: Iraq considered after 9/11
By TED BRIDIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration considered bombing Iraq in retaliation almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against New York and Washington, according to a new first-person account by a former senior counterterrorism adviser inside the White House.
Richard Clarke, the president's counterterrorism coordinator at the time of the attacks, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld complained on Sept. 12 - after the administration was convinced with certainty that al-Qaida was to blame - that, "there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq."
A spokesman for Rumsfeld said he couldn't comment immediately.
Clarke makes the assertion in a new book, "Against All Enemies," which goes on sale Monday morning. He told CBS News he believes the administration sought to link Iraq with the attacks because of long-standing interest in overthrowing Saddam Hussein; Clarke was scheduled to appear Sunday night on the network's "60 Minutes" news program.
"I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection" between Iraq and the al-Qaida attacks in the United States, Clarke said in an interview segment CBS broadcast Friday evening. "There's just no connection. There's absolutely no evidence that Iraq was supporting al-Qaida."
This is a concise statement that says much! Bush has been in office for 3 years, experienced 9/11 and still doesn't have OBL. We should understand by now that he isn't that easy to catch. China may be our biggest threat economically speaking.
This can't be said often enough. The Bushies insist that there is a connection--STILL. They just keep spinning and spinning. I think we can post backup on this board forever, and we will never change the tune. You would think Bush would admit his mistake rather than re-spinning the topic. Repeating the same mantra. Will it never end?
China may be our biggest threat economically speaking.
I completely agree!
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright testified on Tuesday that the Clinton administration did everything in its power to eliminate the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network.
Albright appeared on Capitol Hill before the independent commission investigating the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
U.S. cruise missiles struck al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan after the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and she said bin Laden's Taliban hosts were warned they would be held accountable for future attacks traced back to the terrorist network.
"There should have been no confusion that our personnel were authorized to kill bin Laden," Albright said. "We did not, after all, launch cruise missiles for the purpose of serving legal papers."
She said that it was difficult to find useful intelligence about bin Laden's location.
"President Clinton had ordered that lethal force be used. There were armed submarines in the Arabian Sea and a variety of bombers on standby and ready to go. So the orders were there. The president also asked for a variety of options from the Pentagon in terms of Special Forces ... as far as I know there was no option off the table."
She said that U.S. officials were also using all diplomatic, legal and financial means it had to put pressure on al Qaeda.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and William Cohen, his predecessor in the Clinton administration, are among those scheduled to testify later in the day.
The public hearing comes at a time when the Bush administration is under fire for its antiterrorism efforts, blasted in a new book by a former aide who says President Bush ignored warning signs before 9/11 and later wrongly focused on Iraq at the expense of more vigorously targeting al Qaeda.
More.................
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/23/911.commission/index.html
He had been tied into the first WTC boming, was tied into the downing of the Blackhawk helicopter in Somalia, and was tied directly to the US Embassy bombings in Africa
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